The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Take Your Partners
Doncaster couples enjoy the pleasures of a dinner and dance in this charming insight into 1960s nightlife.
From the collection of:
Overview
This short uplifting film focuses on the excitement of a tightknit Doncaster community who enjoy a dinner dance. The camera follows table conversation in close-up before focusing on the dancing couples that take to the floor after dinner. The director employs an unusual slanted angle for the dancing scenes which lends itself well to the angular mayhem of the crisscrossing couples.
Dinner dances were popular occasions in the mid-20th Century and remain well-attended in British towns and cities today. Dinner dances are commonly held in social clubs, hotels, and restaurants.
Related
Easter Mission to Denaby Easter Mission to Denaby
Amateur film 1962 3 mins Silent Location: Bentley
Denaby, a quintessential industrial village, is visited by Mexborough School students.
From Start to Finish From Start to Finish
Non-Fiction 1981 23 mins Silent Location: Bentley
How a single man can turn a tree into a hand-crafted, solid and beautiful, wooden horse cart, without any division of labour, or conveyer belts, or even much machinery.
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.
An Airman's Letter to His Mother An Airman's Letter to His Mother
Documentary 1941 6 mins
A poignant, stirring letter from a recently deceased pilot to his mother is read by John Gielgud.
The NHS75 Celebration The NHS75 Celebration
Short documentary 2023 3 mins
Former Bristol Poet Laureate, Miles Chambers reads a poem specially commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the NHS.